Orodes II

Orodes II (95 BC-37 BC) was King of Parthia from 57 BC to 37 BC, succeeding Phraates III and preceding Phraates IV.

Biography
Orodes was born in 95 BC, the son of the Parthian king Phraates III. He assumed the throne in 57 BC and fought against his brother Mithridates, the ruler of Media, whom he deposed and forced to flee to Syria. Mithridates briefly returned to power in 55 BC, but Orodes captured Mithridates at Seleucia on the Tigris and slew him. In 53 BC, the Parthians defeated and killed the Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae, and Orodes II proceeded to invade Artaxiad Armenia and force King Artavasdes II of Armenia to submit and abandon his alliance with the Roman Republic. In 52 BC, Orodes failed to conquer Syria. During Caesar's Civil War, Orodes II sided with Pompey against Julius Caesar, and he later sided with Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus during the Liberators' Civil War. During this period, Orodes II expanded Parthia to the borders of the old Achaemenid Empire, controlling almost all of Asia Minor. In 39 BC, Publius Ventidius Bassus led a Roman counterattack against the Parthians in Asia, and he was murdered by his son Phraates IV in 37 BC.